Fred Vasseur confirms: "We talked with Adrian Newey, but we had different ideas"

09/08/2024 03:11 AM

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur confirmed, between the lines, the reason why Adrian Newey will not be heading to Maranello.

Adrian Newey to Aston Martin
Since last Friday, Adrian Newey has been free to sign a contract with Aston Martin, which aims to officially announce his hiring in the coming days. The date marked in emerald green on the calendar, according to recent rumors from the British press, is Tuesday, September 10, when the official presentation should take place.

It won't be Ferrari
The partnership between Adrian Newey and Ferrari will not materialize this time either. The English engineer had put Ferrari at the top of his priorities, and the parties had discussed a part-time super consultant role. However, the discussions stalled when Newey asked Ferrari to have influence on multiple levels, not exclusively the technical aspect, with the prospect of overlapping roles and responsibilities already assigned.

In this sense, an interview given by team principal Frederic Vasseur to Frederic Ferret of L’Equipe on August 31 – and somewhat overlooked – confirmed between the lines an irreconcilable difference in viewpoints between the parties: “Newey? There were discussions, yes. But probably his ideas were different from what I had in mind for him. Maybe one day we will find common ground. But as I said, it's not one person who changes the outcome of a team. The group is always stronger than the individual.”

Enrico Cardile, Loic Serra, and Jerome D'Ambrosio
In the same interview, Fred Vasseur also spoke about the recent changes within the team. Starting with the departure of Enrico Cardile, who also went to Aston Martin: “I had a good relationship with him and, on a personal level, I miss him,” moving on to the new chassis technical director, Loic Serra: “His strength is that we are talking about an experienced man who has spent a lot of time at the highest level,” and Jerome D’Ambrosio, who will be deputy team principal and head of FDA: “For me, it was important to have someone with his knowledge. In the racing world, he has been a driver, team principal, and CEO.” – the French manager explained.

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